40: How to Host a Zero Waste Birthday Party for Kids (Eco-Friendly Ideas That Save You Money)

I can’t be the only one who has complicated feelings about goody bags… right?

Kids' birthday parties have quietly escalated. The venues. The décor. The goody bags. The expectation that every year has to be a little bigger than the last.

But most kids don’t actually need all of that.

In this episode, I’m sharing how we’ve kept birthday parties simple, low waste, and still genuinely fun — from smaller guest lists to reusable decorations, bulk food, experience gifts, and activities that don’t end up in the trash.

If you’re looking for practical, eco-friendly birthday party ideas that feel realistic for busy families, this episode walks through exactly how we do it.

Related Episodes

Ep. 16: Sustainable Living with Kids with Jessica Nakamura

Ep. 22: Simple, Real-Life Sustainable Living with Julie Darrell

Ep. 23: Borrow Before You Buy with LEND-IT.CA

Ep. 26: Holiday Food Waste — Simple Ways to Reduce Waste and Save Money

Resources

How to Have a Zero Waste Birthday Party for Kids (blog post)

Should You Give Secondhand Gifts (blog post)

Eco-Friendly Gift Ideas for Kids (blog post)

Balloons Blow

Transcript

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (00:00.502)
I can't be the only one who has complicated feelings about goody bags, right? You know the ones, the plastic bags filled with little plastic toys that break right away and are forgotten about by the time you get home. And maybe it's not even really the bags themselves, it's what they represent. That feeling that every year kids birthday parties seem to get a little bigger, a little louder, a little too much.

So what would it look like to keep it simple and sustainable instead? Welcome to Sustainable in the Suburbs, a podcast for the eco-curious who want to live a greener life and are looking for a place to start. I'm your host, Sarah Robertson Barnes, a soccer mom with a station wagon and a passion for sustainable living. Each week, I'll bring you practical tips and honest conversations to help you waste less, save money, and make small doable shifts that actually fit your real life. Because sustainable living doesn't have to be perfect to matter.

and you don't have to do it all to make a difference. Hello, and welcome back to Sustainable in the Suburbs, the podcast where we start where we are, use what we have and live a little greener, one small shift at a time. My name is Sarah and I'm happy to be talking to you today. Thank you so much for being here. This show is made possible by listeners like you. So if you've been enjoying the podcast, one of the best ways to support it is to share an episode on social media.

and that really helps new folks to find the show. You can also leave a quick rating or a review or click the support the show link in the show notes. And if you head over to sustainable in the suburbs.com slash podcast, you can find the show notes for every episode and a place to suggest topics or guests that you would love to hear from. All right, let's get into it.

Birthday parties are one of those near universal parenting experiences. Once your kid hits school age, the invitations start rolling in and suddenly your weekends are spent at trampoline parks, indoor play places, laser tag, bouncy castles, in party rooms filled with balloons with matching plates and cups and cutlery and cuddly bags. And they're very exciting. They're very loud. They are pure chaos.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (02:17.171)
And at the end of it all, there are usually a few garbage bags. I remember when my kids asked why we didn't do the big play place parties. They had been to plenty, so they knew what they looked like. And I told them two things. First, they already get to attend lots of those parties. And secondly, their parties are different. Ours happen at home or at the park or at the community center, and they just feel like us.

And over time, I realized something. Kids tend to rise to the expectations that we quietly set for them. When simple is normal, then simple also feels special. And yes, those kinds of parties are really expensive. I think it's okay to say that. have a book of venue, order food, buy themed decor, the single use decorations, the disposable plates and cups, the goody bag trinkets, the balloons. It all adds up really quickly. And most of it is only used once.

At the same time, we genuinely want to celebrate our kids and we want them to feel special and have fun and mark another year around the sun in a way that feels joyful. But we don't have to go big to make it memorable or meaningful. And I found that when we simplify, we also naturally spend less. And when we spend less, we're throwing away less at the end of the day. So today we'll be talking about how to have a low waste kids birthday party.

one that still feels fun and meaningful, but doesn't end with a full trash bag. And as always, just take what works for you and leave the rest. You know your own rhythms and your own budget and your own kids. So let's build from there.

Starting small really does set the tone for everything else. And that usually begins with the guest list. Bigger parties mean more decorations, more food, more packaging, more everything. They can be really overwhelming too for kids and adults. And at the end, there's usually a lot more to clean up, both physically and emotionally. But keeping it small changes the whole energy of the day. You don't have to invite the whole class.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (04:31.704)
I know that can be really tricky. No one wants to feel left out, but navigating invitations and sometimes not being invited is part of growing up. So I don't know to what works for you there. In our family, we kept it simple. We have the invite your age rule. So for example, when they turned six, they invited six friends. You don't have to follow that exactly, obviously, but it just gave us a starting point.

And then next year they'd be like, it's seven this year, so I can invite seven friends. Now we did just have a 13th birthday party. We did not invite 13 friends. I did seem to even out over time, but it's a good place to start when your kids are small. Personally, I found that once you get past that five or six kids, the dynamic does shift. It becomes less about connection then and more about crowd control. So thankfully, like I said, as mine approached about 10, they also wanted to keep it small.

Smaller parties are also just calmer. They create a space for the kids to actually play. They can settle into a game or a craft or just running around outside without it feeling too chaotic. Small and simple doesn't mean boring. It means your kid actually gets to spend time connecting with people they invited.

So then there's the invitations and that can set the tone before the party even starts. I haven't seen a paper invitation to anything in a minute. Most people just send a text or an email, usually now with an invite made up in Canva. These are really fun to make with your kids too. So let them help design it. They can choose the colors, the theme, the font, and it's more fun for them than anything you can really buy in the party aisle at the dollar store. And they are learning a few computer skills too.

Invitations are also where we can set expectations gently and clearly. And so I get asked about this all the time. What do you do about gifts? It's completely fine to say on the invitation, no gifts. You can keep it simple. No gifts, please. And some people will still bring something. That's fine. If there's something really specific that your child wants or is into, you can help. You can mention that too.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (06:42.488)
It helps to avoid like a pile of random toys and focuses things a bit. So you can mention what they're really into right now or say books welcome, something like that, whatever feels right for you. For older kids, especially experiences work really well. My kids have received passes to our local Six Flags the last few years from their grandparents. And then they get the add-ons for their birthday. So the food and drink pass. It's one gift that gets used all season instead of something that gets lost in their room.

So of course, the goal isn't to control what everyone else does. It's just to communicate your values clearly and kindly.

The birthday parties that I remember most growing up were the ones at home. All of my friends gathered around the cake at the kitchen table, sleepover parties in the basement. So if you can consider having the party at home. There's something really grounding about celebrating in a familiar place. My two boys have had some really great parties at home. We have a winter birthday and a summer birthday. So we have built snow forts, run through the sprinkler, had costume parties. One year everybody dressed up like Transformers.

We've done chalk drawing in the driveway, lawn bowling in the backyard, kids just screaming around the basement. 11 out of 10 every time, zero waste and zero cost. If your house isn't the right fit, you still don't have to default to the indoor playground model if you don't want to. You can meet up for a picnic at a local park or playground. We once had our oldest birthday at a local chip truck, like French Rye's. We all went out for poutine.

And most recently I took my youngest and a bunch of his friends over to the community center to play basketball. Your local library might also have some interesting options like a crafting session. They often have things like you can use a 3D printer, things like that. If you do need extra tables or coolers or lawn games or what have you for a home party, look into borrowing before buying. So some communities even have reusable party kits you can rent. So like a milk crate almost with.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (08:44.893)
dishes and cups and cutlery and decor, you can also check in with your local buy nothing group or look into rentals on platforms like lendit.ca. So when you zoom out, the question becomes less, where should we book and more, what kind of gathering do we want this to be?

So let's talk about decorations because this is often where waste really shows up. The Batman plates and cups and banners, the plastic tablecloths, the balloons, everything from the party aisle again at the dollar store. I've been there. I've done it. But honestly, you don't need most of it. And my kids did not notice when I stopped doing it. When my oldest turned one, I bought a really simple happy birthday cloth banner from a small Etsy shop.

That shop has since closed, but the banner has stayed. We use it for every single family birthday since, including for my husband's grandfather's 100th birthday this past summer. So that's become a really meaningful family tradition. If you do buy something, buy something that you'll use again and again, like the fabric banner, a wooden cake topper, a birthday crown that gets passed between siblings. Invest once and then reuse it forever.

You can also thrift decorations. see party supplies at the thrift store all the time, like unopened packs of candles, banners, cake things, party hats, even steamed decor that someone used once and donated. Borrowing works too. You can always put up an in search of on your local buy nothing group, ask your neighbor if they have an extra folding table, cooler, that kind of thing. And of course, before you buy anything at all, just look around your house.

Decorations can be really simple. They can be fresh flowers in a mason jar or branches from the yard, your kid's artwork strung up as a garland. You can make paper chains from scrap paper. You can do pom poms from scrap yarn. I've done that one before. A big piece of craft paper taped to the table that doubles as a doodle station before they eat their birthday cake on it. Decorations don't have to come from the party aisle to feel festive.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (11:01.009)
we do have to talk about balloons. Again, I get it. I've done it. And they instantly make something look like a party, but they are primarily plastic and helium is a non-renewable resource that we really don't need to be wasting on this because once it's gone, it's gone. Balloons, even the quote biodegradable ones are single use and they go to landfill or worse, they get loose in the environment where they can be safety hazards.

I don't know you've ever seen those videos of the Mylar balloons hitting power lines. That's not good. Animals can become entangled or ingest them. They pollute waterways. They get into green spaces. You can check out balloonsblow.org for more info on this. But the good news is there's so many other ways to make a space feel celebratory. So the goal is to choose decorations that can show up again next year instead of ending up in the landfill the next morning.

Food is another major source of waste at birthday parties. So we've got individually wrapped snacks, juice boxes, cupcake toppers that get tossed, trays of food that get scraped straight into the garbage at the end of the afternoon, especially when you are in one of those party rooms and you have to clear out before the next group comes in. So, and something that I've learned, and I mentioned this in the holiday food waste episode, you will not run out of food, especially at a kid's birthday party. They are busy.

They're distracted, they're excited. They'll eat a little bit and run off and come back for cake and that's about it. They are not touching the veggie tray. A birthday party is not the time to double everything just in case. So that said, you can do quite a bit package free depending on what kind of stores you have around you. So we grab snacks from the bulk barn, our awesome local bulk store in our own containers. And we just prep our own fruits and veggies.

I'm also able to get what I need to make the birthday cupcakes in my own containers at Bulk Barn as well. A mix from a box is fine too. I am a mediocre baker at best, but you can hide a lot under package free sprinkles. If you do want to bake, check out the mug cake idea that Julie Darrell discussed back in episode 22. We actually talked a lot about birthday parties for older kids in that episode. So go back and give that one a listen.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (13:22.791)
The mug cake tutorial is also on the blog post that will go along with this episode. So you can check the show notes for that. Like most birthday parties, we order pizza. It's a crowd pleaser and the boxes can be recycled or composted. So check your local rules for that. We've also done a backyard barbecue a few times as well. So if you're hosting a larger gathering or doing a picnic, pot can work really beautifully as well.

Drinks are another easy win. You don't have to have plastic water bottles or juice boxes. Since we are usually at home, I just offer water, milk, or juice. And we label all of the glasses with a China marker so the kids can find theirs again at cake time. It sounds really small, but it prevents a whole lineup of half-used red Solo cups. So just buy what you need, keep it simple, and avoid the extras that will end up in the bin.

So what are we serving this food on? Using real dishes is one of the easiest shifts you can make. So yes, you heard that right. Use your real dishes. I know that can feel risky, a group of excited kids running around, but in all the years we've hosted birthday parties, we have never had a broken dish. We use our regular kitchen dishes, glasses, cutlery, and of course our cloth napkins. So before the party starts, I write each child's name on a glass with a china marker.

That's just like a wax pencil, like the one that they write on your cup at Tim Hortons or whatever. So they can find their cup again for cake, and they're really good at keeping track of it. It completely eliminates having to have any disposable cups. So at the end of the party, some of the kids have even helped to clear and scrape their own plates into the compost bin and load the dishwasher. So when you hand a child real dishes, they tend to rise to the occasion.

There's something just really simple and powerful about showing that you trust them. They're very capable. If you don't have enough dishes, you absolutely don't need to go out and buy more. Borrow from a neighbor or from friends and family. Ask in your buy nothing group. And for something that happens once a year, the access makes more sense than ownership. As I mentioned before, in some communities you can even rent party kits.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (15:37.893)
all the plates, cups, cutlery, sometimes serving trays, decorations, all bundled together. Some libraries now even lend out event kits the same way that they lend out books. And if you do need just a few extras, thrift stores are full of mismatched plates and glasses. They don't have to match. In fact, I think mismatched is more charming, but you could even build your own party kit to lend out to your network. At the end of the party,

Everything goes into the dishwasher and the washing machine, not into a trash bag. And once you've done it once or twice, it doesn't feel unusual. It just feels normal.

Okay, so now you have all these kids in your house. How are you going to occupy them? Activities are where you can shift the focus from stuff to experience. And the beautiful part is that many of the best party activities are low waste, low cost, and they can even double as the take home or goodie bag without you having to assemble a bag of plastic trinkets at midnight the night before. Decorating cookies is a classic for a reason.

You can bake them ahead of time with your kids and then set up stations to decorate them at the party with goodies from the bulk store. You can then package them up in a paper bag for each kid to take home. We did this at our niece's birthday party a few years ago and it was a blast. Making wildflower seed bombs is another fun one. They will get messy, but they can mix the clay and seeds.

and then they get to plant them or toss them in a patch of soil at home. It's simple, it's hands-on, and it's rooted in something bigger than the party itself. So just make sure you have smocks for each kid or note it on the invitation. You can make mini terrariums in reused jars. Painting rocks with faces or kind messaging on them is really fun too. And then you can go on a short little community walk and leave them for someone else to discover.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (17:37.371)
So during COVID, the kids in our neighborhood did this constantly. And it was honestly lovely. It really turned a small act into something communal. I miss those rocks. And then there are the no supplies really needed classics. Scavenger hunt at the park, pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs. Need to bring that one back. Just backyard free play. Put the sprinkler on in the summer. A snow fort in the winter. Building a fort with the couch cushions and blankets.

These games have lasted for generations because they work. They don't really require a shopping list and they don't generate a pile of waste at the end. When you center the party around an experience, something active, creative, communal, then you naturally reduce the need for extra stuff. The fun becomes the thing.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (18:27.635)
goodie bags. So as I mentioned at the top, I am not a fan. And I know that I'm not the only one. I think many parents would love to move away from them to reduce cost, stress and more junk coming into the house. I understand they're a nice gesture and thank you for coming, but they're not mandatory. You are absolutely allowed to skip them all together. But I also know that kids love getting a loot bag.

They just don't need to be plastic bags filled with cheap plastic junk from the dollar store. So that said, when we go to parties, we always let our kids choose if they wanted to take the goodie bag and they always did. So we can only control what we do for our own parties. So if you do want to have a little party favor, there are lots of simple, inexpensive and eco-friendly ways to do it.

Our go-to are either little jam jars or little paper boxes of candy from the bulk store. The kids would either pick out like three or four types of candy and then we would decorate the jars with ribbons or the boxes with stamps and stickers. Their friends were always happy to get them and we got nothing but positive feedback from the other parents. Plus they get a free jar. There are honestly so many amazing ideas on Pinterest for this approach, but some of the ones that I love are

taking home the thing you made during the activity. Hot chocolate mixes, again, a hit at the bulk store. Seed packets, seed paper or seedlings, sidewalk chalk, bookmarks, coloring books. One idea I saw that I loved was thrifted books wrapped in brown paper that your kids can decorate and write a small hint on the outside. And then their friends get to choose it as like a mystery gift on the way out. And if you do want to include little small toys,

consider buying them secondhand. That plastic already exists. So extending its life is a different decision than buying something brand new just to fill a bag. All of these ideas are a great way to lead by example too. Other parents are seeing your version of a goody bag. And again, you can choose to do nothing but send a thank you.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (20:38.609)
Gifts are usually the trickiest part because this is where values and relationships intersect in different ways. So I try not to stress too much about the gifts coming into the home, especially with families that we don't know very well. So we can make a little note on the invitations and we can also make our values known throughout the year. And over time, I have noticed that that does make a difference. Instead, like I mentioned before, just try to lead by example with the types of gifts that you give and how you wrap them as well.

So for example, I've mentioned a bunch of times now that we love to give experience gifts. So our current go-to is movie passes or restaurant gift cards with a box of Pop Tarts. Are Pop Tarts sustainable? No, but my kids get a kick out of giving them as like a treat for their friends. So it's about balance. Secondhand gifts are another easy shift. My kids were big into Lego and we regularly found unopened sets.

on selling apps like Kijiji or Marketplace. So my husband ended up having a small stockpile of unopened secondhand sets that we gave as gifts for a while. So if you haven't listened to the episode on secondhand gifts or read my blog post about eco-friendly gift ideas for kids, those are great places to start for tons of ideas. And I'll link those in the show notes for you as well. But please comment your ideas if you're listening on Spotify or add a comment on Facebook.

or email me your ideas and I will add them to the blog. Just do it feels comfortable for you and your child. Some families will be all in on no gifts. Others might prefer a contribution model. Others will keep it traditional and you can just focus on managing the waste afterwards. Whatever works for you will evolve over time. And that's the point.

So to sum it all up, keeping it simple helps to keep it sustainable. The same banner hung up every year, a simple cake, the same kids running through the yard or shooting hoops at the community center. That's what I remember and that's what my kids remember too. Costs less, it creates less waste, but it creates more connection and more core memories. We can celebrate our children and still be thoughtful about what we're sending out into the world. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (22:55.739)
And at the end of the day, kids don't need to be impressed. They just want to feel celebrated. They want time with their friends and they want cake. So here's your one small shift for the week. Choose one birthday tradition that you can repeat every year. A banner, kind of cake, a backyard game, something simple that becomes part of your family story. So if you've hosted a Lower Way's birthday party or you have some ideas that I didn't mention, I would love to hear them. So please do get in touch.

You can find everything that I mentioned today in the full show notes. And you can find links to all the blog posts and previous episodes that I mentioned at sustainable in the suburbs.com slash podcast until next time start where you are, use what you have and.

Thanks for tuning in to Sustainable in the Suburbs. Every small step adds up and I'm so glad we're doing this together. If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to follow the show, share it with a friend and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. You can find me at sustainableinthesuburbs.com or at Sarah Robertson Barnes on all the things. Until next time, start where you are, use what you have and live a little greener. This podcast is produced, mixed and edited by Cardinal Studio.

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